They named it the Heartbeat Bill. It came immediately on the heels of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade. Ohio legislators passed an abortion ban in Ohio after 6 weeks of pregnancy — no exception for rape, incest or to save a mother’s life. A better name would be the heartless bill for numerous reasons, starting with this: An electrical impulse first detected from a fetus around 6 weeks is not from a heart but from a cluster of cells.
The 6-week mark is heartless for many women with irregular periods who don’t even realize they are pregnant by then. The early ban means a woman who’s missed a period may have too short a window of time to seek an abortion. The single mother with three children working two jobs has to figure out child care, if she has sick time accrued, transportation and payment. Some will say, “That’s your problem, you should have been more careful.” I say, take a walk in this woman’s shoes before judging someone trying to keep food on the table. Women often have unintended pregnancies as birth control can fail. Sexual assault is way more common then is openly acknowledged in the public. The CDC stat: 1 in 4 women have experienced completed or attempted rate.
Then there is the opposite: The woman thrilled after multiple miscarriages reaches the third trimester of her last pregnancy only to have heartbreaking complications arise. Her doctor’s hands are tied; risk losing one’s medical license by terminating the pregnancy or risk losing the patient. Those against Issue 1 say defining what is life threatening is too subjective. However an OB-GYN doctor goes to school for many years to apply the science of medicine to those challenging assessments. In a recent survey, 68% of OB-GYNs have stated since the Dobbs decision that emergency situations have become harder to manage and 64% said that it has increased patients’ deaths. Some medical students are already planning to leave Ohio after graduation if Issue 1 fails because of this trying situation.
The most egregious aspect of the law is no exception for rape or incest. In July 2022, Ohio made frontline national news as a girl who had just turned 10 was taken to Indiana so her rape-induced pregnancy could be terminated. Adding insult to injury, Attorney General David Yost stated he doubted credibility and Jim Jordan followed with a tweet : Another Lie. Anyone Surprised?
When the child’s rapist was arrested and convicted shortly thereafter, neither Jordan nor Yost apologized to the public, or the victim’s family for such statements. HEARTLESS! Wonder why women often don’t report rape? Why subject oneself to this message: You are a liar?
How do the same politicians, adamant about protecting the unborn baby, have no interest in ensuring there is a habitable planet when those babies grow up? The next generation faces what years of climate denial by these same politicians have done to the planet.
One way I can relate to my friends who are pro-life is that I do believe life right here, right now, is precious. And I want abortions to decrease but by the means that have proven over time to truly work: providing comprehensive sex education and accessible birth control, addressing a culture that contributes to sexual assault by denying it, and practicing the golden rule: Do onto others as you would have them do unto you, a mantra perhaps everyone might embrace.
Janalee Stock
Athens, Ohio
